Lord Lyons (Vol. 1&2) - Thomas Wodehouse Legh Newton

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already named to other posts. The appointment, when it became known, was received with general approval, and congratulations came from all quarters, but the signal compliment which had been paid him, far from turning his head, only elicited the expression that he knew rather less of the East than most people and that he entered upon his duties with many misgivings.

      Accompanied by Malet and Sheffield, Lord Lyons arrived at Constantinople in October, 1865, under somewhat peculiar circumstances. It is unusual for two ambassadors to be present at the same post at the same time, but Sir Henry Bulwer, in spite of many protestations that he wished to be relieved of his duties, was still residing at the Embassy, having possibly imbibed the spirit of procrastination from the locality, and it is conceivable that the Foreign Office considered that the best means of accelerating his departure was to send out his successor with orders to present his credentials as soon as possible.

      The two ambassadors were lodged under the same roof. At first Lord Lyons was the guest of Sir Henry Bulwer, then the conditions were reversed, Sir Henry becoming the guest of his successor, and the comedy concluded with the simultaneous presentation at the palace of the letters of recall and letters of credence of the outgoing and incoming ambassadors. After rather more than a fortnight, Sir Henry Bulwer was induced to take his departure to some unknown destination, but, much to the embarrassment of his successor, announced his intention of returning before long. Those who are acquainted with the history of British diplomacy must remember a very similar episode which also occurred at Constantinople about twenty-six years ago, when a special envoy was residing there in addition to the ambassador.

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      Lord Lyons to Lord Russell.

       Constantinople, Oct. 25, 1865.

      Sir Henry Bulwer received me very kindly and cordially, and has told me very fully what his views are, both as to Turkish politics in general, and as to the particular questions now uppermost. He had a private audience of the Sultan the day before yesterday, and after it, went on board the Caradoc, intending to sail the same evening. This, however, he did not do, and I went on board to see him yesterday afternoon. He meant then to sail at daylight this morning. I hear that he has now put off his departure till to-morrow. As to his destination, he seems to waver between Malta, Naples and Palermo. Lady Bulwer stays a little longer. Sir Henry talks vaguely of coming back here as a traveller in the spring, and the Sultan has offered to place a house at his disposal if he does so. I could not tell him that I thought it advisable either for the public service or for himself that he should come back so soon, especially as he thinks the place particularly disagrees with him. He has been so friendly and agreeable that I half blame myself for not being more willing to see him again here.

      I can write little that can be depended upon about public matters here. Everybody represents everybody else as being engaged in a series of intrigues so complicated as to be utterly beyond my comprehension. Fuad and Ali appear very easy to get on with, and I think that I shall have little difficulty in transacting all important business directly with them, as long as they remain in office. My idea is not to give an opportunity for starting difficulties by announcing a great change which I should not be able to carry out, but actually to do the business myself, as much as possible without dragomans. My colleagues seeing this will no doubt follow my example. The dragoman system will then languish, and the opportunity may then be taken of giving it the coup de grace if that should seem advisable.

      The impression made upon my mind by Fuad Pasha's conversation on the finances was that he will make every effort to pay the interest on the Foreign Loans regularly, but that the Government will frequently be very hard up for money and will then raise it by any expedient and on any terms for the moment. In this way a new irregular internal or quasi-internal debt will arise, which, when it reaches a certain point, will have to be converted, or funded, or provided for in some way; and then the country becomes more and more involved. Whether the undeveloped resources of the country, which must be very great, can be brought into play soon enough to balance the growing debt, I cannot of course pretend to say. The great measure in contemplation is to secularize the Vacoufs. The tenures on which this property is held and transmitted are so peculiar and complicated that it will require some study to enable me to understand the subject. I confess one cannot help feeling that most of the property will be interrupted by dishonest agents on its way to the Treasury.

      My colleagues seem very well disposed to be cordial and easy to deal with, but M. de Monstier, whom they all seem to regard as the great difficulty, is not yet here.

      The Constantinople Embassy, justly regarded as one of the big prizes in the British Diplomatic Service, is, under ordinary circumstances, the most onerous post of all; and, as past occupants know to their cost, the distinguished position occupied by the British ambassador, the almost princely state in which he lives, the magnificence of his residences, the charm of the Bosphorus and the pleasure derived from living in what is at once one of the most beautiful and one of the most interesting cities in the universe, are somewhat dearly bought by the constant, thankless, and fruitless labour in which they are habitually engaged. Their time is ceaselessly occupied in combating the intrigues of other Powers, in ineffectual attempts to redress the real or fictitious grievances of British subjects, in the urging of nebulous schemes vaguely described as reforms, and in hopeless efforts to avert the inevitable doom awaiting a people, who, in spite of some admirable qualities, are constitutionally incapacitated from realizing what are their true interests. After the stress and turmoil of the last five years at Washington, however, Constantinople must have appeared to the new ambassador almost in the agreeable light of a rest cure.

      For once in a way, things were fairly quiet: there were no signs of any immediate crisis, and although the Turkish Government was involved in its habitual financial difficulties, in the autumn of 1865 the only questions which appeared likely to give rise to trouble were those relating to the Moldo-Wallachian Principalities, to Crete, and to a Firman for the Bey of Tunis. But whatever may be the internal condition of the Turkish Empire at any given period, or whatever may be its external relations, there is invariably one representative of the Great Powers at Constantinople whose rôle it is to threaten, browbeat, and coerce. At the period in question this duty was discharged with zest by the French Ambassador, the Marquis de Moustier, whose mission it was to 'porter haut le drapeau de la France'—in other words, to bully and bluster whenever opportunity permitted, and of whom the Turks and his foreign colleagues stood in deadly fear. The Russian Minister at that time was the celebrated General Ignatieff, of whom Lord Lyons subsequently expressed the opinion that 'General Ignatieff would be an admirable diplomatist if he were only a little more veracious.' And it seems odd nowadays to read that on nearly every matter the French and the Russians were in opposition to each other. In fact, General Ignatieff used to declare that his French colleague was so insupportably arrogant that it was impossible to do business with him. Each endeavoured to enlist the new British Ambassador upon his side; naturally, without success, as intrigue was essentially foreign to his nature, and he had no intention of allowing himself to become embroiled in their quarrels. Writing in November to Mr. Erskine, the British Minister at Athens, he was able to say that 'Here we are as quiet as possible; the disease with which the Turk is threatened appears to be atrophy; want of money and want of men. There are no questions of interest at this moment, nor even any particular matter for the diplomatists to quarrel about.'

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       Lord Lyons to Earl of Clarendon. 5

       Constantinople, Dec. 6, 1865.

      I don't know what to say of the Turkish finances. Notwithstanding the drought, the cholera, etc., etc., it is alarming that in a year of profound tranquillity at home and abroad, the Government should find itself absolutely without money. As this was the case, I suppose a new foreign loan was better than scraping together, at enormous sacrifices, enough money here to provide for the interest of the old loans next month. They promise that they will pay over to the Bank, as it comes in, the revenue from the sources which are most certain, so as to provide in ample time for the interest on the foreign loans. But what will they have left to live upon? I am trying to get something like an accurate notion of what their prospects are for next year.

      The only probability

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